RECENT COMMENTS BY John Peters

Columns by John Peters

The year was 1919. The war to end all wars had ended. President Woodrow Wilson appointed the King Crane Commission to study the desires of the Middle East , liberated from 500 years of Ottoman Turkish rule, and to report to him on what policies would best support the self-determination of the peoples of the region.
The Allies had enlisted Arab support in the war against the Turks in exchange...

Even before the body of Rafik Hariri was laid to rest, Washington 's warmongers began cranking up their propaganda machine to suggest Syrian complicity in Mr. Hariri's death.
The Bush Administration's expression of outrage might have been convincing if it had not been preceded by two years of anti-Syrian haranguing coupled with threats of economic ruin, political isolation, military invasion,...

Democracy. It is the battle cry of the Bush Administration, which is otherwise plum out of excuses for its rape, looting and pillaging of Arab nations.
We are told that once democracy takes hold in Iraq , it will have a domino effect throughout the Middle East . (Beware of the term 'domino effect.' It has proven a grossly inaccurate predictor in past interventions.)
The Administration has...

A panel assigned the task of investigating the investigative journalism of CBS's '60 Minutes' concluded that those associated with the program aired on September 8, 2004 acted unprofessionally in relying upon unreliable sources of information.
The story examined the commonly heard reports that President Bush was a less than stellar member of the Air National Guard. Certain memos were alleged...

The scene was touching, almost tear-jerking. As Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney looked on with Cheshire smiles, Hamid Karzai was sworn in as the new President of Afghanistan. The coronation hall was probably the nicest building in the country. Certainly it was the cleanest. Karzai looked resplendent, as most rulers do on their big day.
Democracy has come to Afghanistan, or so we are told....

Shortly after declaring major combat operations complete, President Bush was faced with the reality that Iraqi resistance to 'liberation' was on the rise.
Just wait until Saddam's sons are captured or killed, cautioned Bush, then the resistance of the few diehards will end. Uday and Qusay were dispatched in a six hour gun battle with U.S. forces, who utilized superior numbers, attack aircraft...

It is estimated that in the 2000 Presidential election, 40% of the votes cast in favor of George W. Bush came from the Evangelical Christian movement. Bush had worked carefully to cultivate a base of support within this movement, to expand upon it and to retain it. Correctly, Bush advisers saw this movement as George W's political salvation.
What was it about Bush which drew right wing...

In his exaggerated Texas drawl, this is the phrase Bush has used as a modern day Scarlet Letter to discredit his opponents in the Presidential race.
Senator John Edwards is a tralll lawyer. He has made large sums of money representing plaintiffs in lawsuits against doctors and hospitals. This is not something for which Edwards needs to apologize. Yet, Bush has managed to put the young...

Michigan , like many other states, is going through the withdrawal that comes with not being able to maintain lavish state spending at previous levels since revenues have fallen off.
There are several reasons why Michigan has less 'walking around money' than it did even a few years ago. The loss of manufacturing jobs has hit Michigan particularly hard. The drop off in the stock market caught...

Recent headlines have focused attention on the Egyptian town of Taba , and called into question some assumptions which have been in place for the last 25 years regarding peace and the mood of Egyptians toward Israel .
Ironically, Taba became one of those sites whose name, like Camp David , Wye and Oslo , became associated with the hope of future peace between Arabs and Israelis. For many years...

Many critics of the invasion and occupation of Iraq have argued persuasively that its proponents were most interested in securing a strategic advantage for Israel in the Middle East . They point to the decades old ideological and political relationships between Washington 's neocons and the Likud of Israel.
Yet, doubters of this theory question how such a small cabal of conspirators could...

On November 18, 2001 , a woman was shot to death in her suburban Detroit home by her distraught husband. He then turned the gun on himself and died instantly.
This scenario, unfortunately, is played out all too often across the nation. If these were the only facts, you might shrug with empathy and ask yourself why this merits your consideration. This case was different.
In this case, the...

He is the newest poster boy for America's occupation of Iraq. Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt can be seen on the media almost daily espousing a gritty confidence and determination. He is a Clutch Cargo-like figure, tall, chiseled and clean shaven.
Standing before cameras last month for an American audience, General Kimmitt remarked that the people of Fallujah 'just don't get it.' He was...

I was not contacted by any government official prior to March 2003 to ask if I approved of the invasion and occupation of Iraq . I am certain that the hundreds of thousands of troops flooding the Gulf, including their commanding officers, were not polled, either. Certainly, the Administration did not bother to canvass the vast majority of Iraqis regarding their preference for being invaded and...

Farsighted thinkers may already have asked themselves this question: What will the final outcome of America's occupation of Iraq be? The answers are varied and the possibilities lend themselves to endless speculation. God knows they have within the Administration, which seems to weave a new tale almost daily.